Rotating image8
  D.J. Eliot
D.J. Eliot

Position:
Defensive Ends Coach

Experience:
1st Season at FSU

Alma Mater:
Wyoming '99


02/23/2012

Signee Breakdown: Williams

As part of an ongoing series of articles, Seminoles.com Senior Writer Brandon Mellor looks at each member of Florida State's vaunted 2012 recruiting class. Next on the list safety P.J. Williams.

02/08/2012

Signee Breakdown: Blake

As part of an ongoing series of articles, Seminoles.com Senior Writer Brandon Mellor looks at each member of Florida State's vaunted 2012 recruiting class. Fourth on the list is Colin Blake.

01/10/2012

National Signing Day Party

Get your tickets now for the Jimbo Fisher National Signing Day Party on Feb. 1 at the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum and learn all about the newest FSU football players.

11/29/2011

FSU's 2-Year Defensive Swing

Seminoles.com's Brandon Mellor takes a look at the defensive transformation by the Florida State football team over the past two seasons.

10/27/2011

Stopping State

FSU is charged with preventing NC State playmakers David Amerson and T.J. Graham from going off in their typical fashion this Saturday. Plus a note on Jermaine Thomas' mentor role and a pass rush like the glory days.

The Eliot File
Birthdate: August 14, 1976
Hometown:Edmond, OK
High School: Edmond Memorial
College: Wyoming
Family: wife, Miekel; son, Dawson; daughters, Drue and Page.

Coaching Background

• Though D.J. Eliot enters his 13th season of collegiate coaching, the Seminoles' defensive ends coach is the youngest member of Jimbo Fisher's staff. Eliot arrived in Tallahassee from Rice, where he spent three seasons as the recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach.

• At Rice, Eliot had oversight of the recruiting process; a challenge given the schools' stringent academic standards. He identified and helped develop two true freshmen defensive ends - Scott Solomon (63 tackles) and Cheta Ozougwu (61) - who led all CUSA linemen with 124 combined tackles. They combined for 21 tackles for loss and 11 sacks.

• Eliot was a member of the 2008 Rice staff which guided the Owls to a 10-3 record, capped by a Texas Bowl victory over Western Michigan. It was the program's first 10-win season since 1949 and first bowl triumph since the 1950 Cotton Bowl.

• He is one of three first-year FSU assistants who spent time on the coaching staff at the University of Miami, where he served as a graduate assistant working with defensive backs and special teams in 2002. Mark Stoops was the Hurricanes' secondary coach. Eddie Gran also did a graduate assistant stint at Miami a decade earlier.

• Eliot earned his first full-time position at Texas State under David Bailiff, coaching defensive backs one season before a two-year stint with the linebackers. Texas State won the Division I-AA Southland Conference in '05 and qualified for the postseason. Bailiff later hired Eliot to join his staff at Rice.

• Eliot's coaching career also led to a season as the linebackers coach at Tulsa, where he was instrumental in developing CUSA Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bunting as well as standouts Nelson Coleman and Chris Chamberlin. Tulsa earned a berth in the Armed Forces Bowl.

• On the field. Eliot played linebacker for three seasons at Wyoming before injuries led him to a place on the Cowboys' coaching staff as a student assistant for what would have been his senior season. He moved into a graduate assistant role in 1999 after earning his undergraduate degree in natural science and was a zoology minor.

Eliot's Coaching Ledger

Year School Position W-L Postseason
1998 Wyoming SA 8-3
1999 Wyoming GA 7-4
2000 Houston GA 3-8
2001 Houston GA 0-11
2002 Miami (Fla.)
GA 12-1 Fiesta
2003 Texas State
DB 4-8
2004 Texas State
LB 5-6
2005 Texas State LB 11-3 NCAA I-AA
2006 Tulsa LB 8-5 Arned Forces
2007 Rice RC/DL 3-9
2008 Rice RC/DL 10-3 Texas
2009 Rice RC/DL 2-10

Shop Now

at the Official
Online Store

    Rotating image Multimedia Guide
    Replay Photos Memorabilia
    2012 Football Season Tickets